first time i try to connect the ipod with the stadard apple USB-dock cable
and i think it sounds much better
more clarity and cleaner treble
and i think it also improved the very low octaves
am i smoking something?
oh and since all my songs are DRM free, i don't need to use the OEM mini headphone connector, which always looks like its bent too much when i close the arm rest

first time i try to connect the ipod with the stadard apple USB-dock cable
and i think it sounds much better
more clarity and cleaner treble
and i think it also improved the very low octaves
am i smoking something?
oh and since all my songs are DRM free, i don't need to use the OEM mini headphone connector, which always looks like its bent too much when i close the arm rest

You are bypassing the iPod D/A when the Apple USB cable is used, so the music is going straight digital to the OEM HU/iDrive.

ok not sure what all the abbervations stand for but I'm curiuos about what you are talking about.

So people are saying that using the Apple USB connnector vs the BMW Y-cable (that comes with the car) for an iPod produces better sound quality on the speakers?

D/A means digital/analogue converter
the mp3 song i am playing is digital
its being converted into analogue to be reproduced by the speakers
if you use the BMW cable
the conversion is done inside the ipod.
the ipods, although i love them, are not known to have the best sound quality
if you use the apple cable (the one that comes with your ipod)
the conversion is done inside the head unit
which based on my experience
sounds better than the conversion done inside the ipod

keep in mind this is only for songs without Digital Rights Management (DRM)
so if you bought all your songs from itunes (except the last few months, they now have drm free)
they will only work if the ipod does the conversion, i.e you have to use the bmw cable

Yes, but prevents you from accessing playlists and is slower to navigate.

acually based on my attempts
its faster to switch between songs
now there is almost no lag between pressing forward and hearing the next song
i'd say half a second or less
it used to be more for BMW connection

my guess is when you use the bmw cable
you are using the digital/analogue conversion in the ipod
and i believe the ipod has a 32mb buffer
so when you are using the bmw cable
the ipod reads the entire song from the hd
and stores it in the buffer
then it starts playing from the buffer

when you use the apple cable
you are just sending the file as its converted

kind of like downloading a movie (bmw cable)
or streaming it (apple cable)

acually based on my attempts
its faster to switch between songs
now there is almost no lag between pressing forward and hearing the next song
i'd say half a second or less
it used to be more for BMW connection

my guess is when you use the bmw cable
you are using the digital/analogue conversion in the ipod
and i believe the ipod has a 32mb buffer
so when you are using the bmw cable
the ipod reads the entire song from the hd
and stores it in the buffer
then it starts playing from the buffer

when you use the apple cable
you are just sending the file as its converted

kind of like downloading a movie (bmw cable)
or streaming it (apple cable)

Next/last track may be faster, but I believe searching, switching albums, etc is slower.

It's moot for me. I couldn't survive without playlists. If all I was going to do was shuffle, I'd buy a cheap flash drive, or copy to the car's HD.